It is usual when automatically feeding batches of biscuits to an intermittently operating infeed conveyor of a wrapping machine to deposit simultaneously a series of batches spaced apart at the same pitch as the pusher bars of the infeed conveyor. An example of such an apparatus is described in British Pat. No. 1379884. A problem, however, arises if it is sought to utilize this procedure with a continuously moving infeed conveyor because, to enable time for depositing and clearance of the depositing means above the batches after depositing into the continuously moving infeed conveyor, the pitch of the pusher bars on the conveyor has to be of the order of 5" or 6" for the normal size range of biscuits. Hence the magazines from which the batches are metered would also need to be spaced apart at this pitch and, as it is quite common for biscuits to be produced in twenty lanes, this leads to a very wide and cumbersome biscuit feeding machine. Furthermore, the width of such a machine makes it difficult for an operator to supervise the machine.
It is an object of the invention to overcome these difficulties by pitching the magazines as close together as practicable irrespective of the pitch of the pusher bars on the conveyor and to programme the depositing of the batches at time-sequenced intervals to coincide with the arrival of the appropriate pusher bar.